Nesta H. Webster’s previous studies in the French Revolution have made her an unquestioned authority on the period; but she has not hitherto devoted special attention to elucidating the personal characters of the unfortunate Louis XVI and his tragic Queen, whose story is incomprehensible and meaningless without a study of the character of her husband.
The work of which this book is the second part (the first part, subtitled "Before the Revolution", is available
here) sets out to explain Louis’ conduct throughout the Revolution by revealing facts which have too often been suppressed.
Where the Queen is concerned it is not a question of “yet another book on Marie Antoinette,” but of a reply to the fresh calumnies which have recently been published against her. The theory of a love affair between her and the Comte de Fersen is shown to be based on no valid ground of proof, whilst the accusations of opposition to reforms and of betraying the interests of France are refuted by documentary evidence.
Mrs. Webster’s biography is so complete and thorough that it seems bound to supersede the works of previous writers, and to rank as the standard account of the long-drawn-out tragedy of the ancien régime in France.